Flt. Lt. Ian Pursey
Ian Pusey was an RAF Westland Wessex pilot during the Falklands War. Although commissioned by the Royal Air Force he served in the war flying Wessex helicopters with the Royal Australian Navy. Early Career Pursey joined the Royal Air Force at 19 in 1970. He was already a certified fixed wing pilot from his days in the Air Training Corps but he showed a keen interest in becoming a helicopter pilot. Having completed his officer training at RAF Cranwell he was accepted to the RAF's rotary training school at RAF Tern Hill, Shropshire. It was here flying Gazelle HT.1s that Pursey would learn his new trade. Front-line Deployment Upon completing his rotary training at RAF Tern Hill he was posted to No.72 Squadron at RAF Odiham flying the Wessex support helicopter. During his time with No.72 Squadron Pursey undertook operational deployments to Northern Ireland in 1974 and 1977 as the troubles there began to fire up. In 1978 he was part of an RAF deployment sent to Rhodesia to combat Communist insurgents during the so called Rhodesian Bush War. In 1979 Pursey, now a Flight Lieutenant, took advantage of an opportunity to fly with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) thanks to the New Commonwealth's training programs. He joined No.817 Squadron RAN in 1980 having completed his conversion training to flying the maritime Wessex. Although he was trained by the Royal Air Force it was not uncommon for Air Force pilots of one Commonwealth nation to serve in the Navy of another Commonwealth nation. This was to insure maximum interoperability of the Commonwealth armed forces and insure that all members armed forces maintained the highest of standards. Pursey made his first deployment at sea in February 1981 when No.817 Squadron embarked aboard the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) carrier [[HMAS Vengeance|HMAS Vengeance]] for operations in the Timor Sea. At that time the Indonesian submarine threat was becoming increasingly worrying for the New Commonwealth nations of Australia and New Zealand. The deployment lasted 93 days and a follow up deployment was made in August 1981. The Falklands War By April 1982 the Royal Australian Navy was beginning to withdraw the Wessex from the Anti-Submarine role and Pursey himself was getting ready to return to the UK. With the navies of the New Commonwealth now on a war footing, No.817 Squadron was considered combat ready and the unit deployed nine Wessexes aboard [[HMAS Sydney|HMAS Sydney]]. The carrier arrived on station in the South Atlantic on the 31st April and Pursey and his comrades immediately began conducting ASW patrols. Sinking the ARA Santa Fe By the 23rd April the New Commonwealth task-force sent to liberate the Falklands was ready to launch an operation to retake the island of South Georgia. HMAS Sydney was to be the flagship of the operation. The day before however a surveillance aircraft briefly detected a snorkel on the surface around the island indicating the presence of an Argentine submarine. As the landing party prepared to deploy, No.817 Squadron launched a hefty operation to either destroy the submarine or at the very least dissuade its crew from attempting to interfere in the operation (It was later discovered the submarine was actually supplying the Argentine garrison on the islands). At 0550hrs on the morning of the 25th April Pursey and his crew detected propellor noises on their passive sonar equipment east of the island. They then switched to active sonar and detected what they believed to be a submarine near periscope depth heading west. Having heard the sonar ping from the Wessex the Santa Fe ''dived deep to escape. Pursey reported the position of the submarine and ordered his crew to attack. The Wessex launched one of its two homing torpedoes which raced after the submarine. Now back on passive sonar the crew of Pursey's Wessex heard an underwater explosion a few seconds later indicating that the torpedo's warhead had detonated but there were no other sounds which might indicate that they had hit the submarine (eg. breaking bulkheads). Passive sonar failed to detect anymore noise from the submarine and this forced the Wessex to go back to active sonar. The sonar operator aboard Pursey's Wessex detected what he believed was the submarine but the readout was difficult to interpret. With news that additional aircraft were on their way to support them, Pursey decided to attack with the remaining torpedo knowing that if he was wrong then the other helicopters could make the next attack. At 0613hrs Pursey's Wessex launched the second torpedo. A few minutes later they heard a second explosion. This time there was a secondary explosion followed by the sound of bulkheads breaking apart. Orbiting over the area of the detonation Pursey and his crew observed chunks of debris floating to the surface. The debris was later identified as belonging to the ''Santa Fe. Decoration Pursey was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for his part in the sinking of the ARA Santa Fe. Category:Heroes & Villains